60 Fun Facts About Exodus

Exodus is which book of the Bible?

Exodus is the second book of the Bible, following Genesis; it opens with Jacob's descendants multiplying in Egypt and a new pharaoh enslaving them.

In Exodus 4, what does Moses' staff become when he throws it on the ground?

At the burning bush God tells Moses to throw down his staff, and it becomes a snake (Exodus 4:3); he flees from it until told to grasp its tail.

What is the traditional Hebrew title of the Book of Exodus?

The Hebrew title is Shemot, 'Names', taken from the book's opening verse: 'These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt'.

According to Exodus, the enslaved Israelites were forced to build which two store cities?

Exodus 1:11 names Pithom and Rameses as the store cities the enslaved Israelites built; the name Rameses is one reason Ramesses II is often proposed as the story's unnamed pharaoh.

Who found the infant Moses hidden in an ark among the reeds of the Nile?

Pharaoh's daughter found the basket while bathing in the Nile (Exodus 2:5); she named the child Moses and unknowingly hired his own mother to nurse him.

Why did Moses first flee Egypt for the land of Midian?

Moses had killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew (Exodus 2:12), hid the body in the sand, and fled to Midian once Pharaoh learned of it and sought his life.

What was the name of Moses' wife?

Zipporah, one of the seven daughters of the priest of Midian, was given to Moses as his wife (Exodus 2:21); their first son was named Gershom.

Moses' father-in-law, the priest of Midian who later advised him to appoint judges, was called what?

Jethro, priest of Midian, advised Moses to appoint judges over the people (Exodus 18); the text also calls him Reuel, and the Druze revere him as their chief prophet.

What was Moses doing when he encountered God in the burning bush?

Exodus 3:1 says Moses was tending his father-in-law's flock in the wilderness when he saw the bush burning yet not consumed and was told to remove his sandals on holy ground.

On which mountain does Exodus place the burning bush?

Exodus 3:1 places the bush at Horeb, 'the mountain of God', generally identified with Sinai; Saint Catherine's Monastery there displays a bush its monks hold to be the original.

What name does God give when Moses asks who is sending him?

God answers 'I Am Who I Am' (Hebrew Ehyeh asher ehyeh, Exodus 3:14), a phrase built on the verb 'to be' and linked to the divine name YHWH.

Because Moses protested that he was not a good speaker, who was appointed to speak for him?

His brother Aaron was appointed Moses' spokesman (Exodus 4:14-16): 'he shall be your mouth, and you shall be to him as God'; Aaron was three years the elder (Exodus 7:7).

How many plagues did God send on Egypt according to tradition?

Oddly, the book never adds them up; the number ten comes from counting the narrative, and Psalms list them differently.

What was the first plague on Egypt?

In the first plague the Nile turned to blood (Exodus 7:20): the fish died, the river stank, and Egypt's magicians matched the feat with their secret arts.

Which plague followed directly after the river was struck?

Frogs came next, the plague of Exodus 8: they swarmed into houses, bedrooms and kneading bowls, and when they died the land stank from the heaps of them.

How long did the plague of darkness last?

Exodus 10:22-23 says thick darkness covered Egypt for three days, a darkness 'that could be felt', while the Israelites had light where they lived.

What was the tenth and final plague?

Egyptian households from Pharaoh's to the prisoner's lost their firstborn, and Pharaoh finally sent the Israelites away that night.

How were the Israelites told to mark their homes to be spared from the final plague?

Exodus 12:7 has each household mark its home with a lamb's blood on the doorframe, the two doorposts and the lintel; the lamb was chosen on the tenth of the month, slaughtered on the fourteenth, and eaten in haste.

Which Jewish festival commemorates the escape from Egypt described in Exodus?

Passover (Pesach) commemorates the Exodus; it begins on the 15th of Nisan and runs seven days in Israel and eight in most diaspora communities.

Why is unleavened bread eaten during the spring festival that commemorates the escape from Egypt?

Exodus 12:39 says the Israelites left so fast their dough had no time to rise, so they baked unleavened cakes; leavened food, chametz, is banned for the whole festival.

What is the name of the book read at the Seder meal that retells the story of Exodus?

The Haggadah — the word means 'telling' — is the text read at the Seder; the meal follows a fixed order, which is what 'seder' means.

How many Israelite men on foot does Exodus 12:37 say left Egypt?

Exodus 12:37 counts about 600,000 men on foot, 'besides children'; Numbers 1:46 later gives a census of 603,550 men aged twenty and up.

According to Exodus 12, how long had the Israelites lived in Egypt when they left?

Exodus 12:40-41 says the Israelites had lived in Egypt 430 years and left 'on that very day'; Genesis 15:13 had foretold a round four hundred years of oppression.

In what form did God lead the Israelites through the wilderness by day?

God went before them by day in a pillar of cloud and by night in a pillar of fire (Exodus 13:21), so the people could travel at any hour.

The Hebrew name of the sea the Israelites crossed, Yam Suph, is often translated as what?

Yam Suph is commonly rendered 'Sea of Reeds' (suph means reeds or rushes), which has led scholars to look at marshy lakes along the Suez isthmus rather than the Red Sea proper.

In the crossing account, what natural force does God use to drive the sea back overnight?

Exodus 14:21: when Moses stretched his hand over the sea, the Lord drove it back 'by a strong east wind all that night' and turned the seabed into dry ground.

Which of Moses' siblings led the women in song with timbrels after the sea closed over the Egyptians?

Miriam, called 'the prophetess' in Exodus 15:20, took a timbrel and led the women in song and dance; in Numbers 12 she was struck with a skin disease for speaking against her brother.

What food did God provide each morning in the wilderness when the people complained of hunger?

Manna came with the morning dew and had to be gathered before the sun melted it (Exodus 16:21); Joshua 5:12 says it ceased once Israel ate the produce of Canaan.

Exodus says the wilderness bread was white like coriander seed and tasted like what?

Exodus 16:31 describes the wilderness bread as 'like coriander seed, white', with a taste 'like wafers made with honey'; a double portion fell on the sixth day for the Sabbath.

The Hebrew name of the wilderness bread is traditionally explained as a question meaning what?

Exodus 16:15 says the Israelites asked 'man hu?' — 'What is it?' — when they first saw the flakes on the ground, and the bread's name is traditionally traced to that question.

For how many years did the Israelites eat the wilderness bread, according to Exodus?

Exodus 16:35 says the Israelites ate the wilderness bread for 40 years, until they came to an inhabited land; a jar of it was kept before the Testimony as a memorial.

What accompanied God's appearance on Mount Sinai when the Ten Commandments were pronounced?

Exodus 19:16-19 describes thunder, lightning, smoke and a trumpet blast growing ever louder, with a thick cloud on the mountain; it trembled, and the people begged Moses to speak in God's place.

The Ten Commandments are said to have been written on the stone tablets by what?

Exodus 31:18 says the tablets were 'written with the finger of God'; Moses smashed that first set on seeing the golden calf and had to hew a second pair himself.

Besides Exodus 20, in which other book does the Ten Commandments text appear in full?

The Ten Commandments are repeated in full in Deuteronomy 5, with small wording changes such as the reason given for the Sabbath; a different 'Ritual Decalogue' appears in Exodus 34.

What is the traditional Hebrew term for the Ten Commandments?

The traditional term is Aseret ha-Dibrot, 'the ten words' or sayings; 'Decalogue' is the Greek equivalent, and Exodus 34:28 itself speaks of 'the ten words', not commandments.

Who fashioned the golden calf while Moses was on the mountain?

Aaron collected the people's gold earrings and cast the calf (Exodus 32:2-4); confronted by Moses, he claimed he threw the gold in the fire 'and out came this calf'.

What did Moses do with the golden calf after destroying it?

Exodus 32:20: Moses burned the calf, ground it to powder, mixed it in water and made the people drink it; the Levites then killed about three thousand for the idolatry.

What did God instruct Moses to build as a sanctuary for His presence among the people?

God told Moses 'let them make me a sanctuary' (Exodus 25:8); the result was the Tabernacle, a tent shrine carried through the wilderness and later superseded by Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.

What does the Hebrew word for the portable sanctuary, mishkan, literally mean?

Mishkan comes from the root shakhan, 'to dwell', so it literally means 'dwelling place'; its inner room, the Holy of Holies, held the Ark behind a veil on four pillars.

Which craftsman is named in Exodus as the chief builder of the sanctuary tent and its furnishings?

Bezalel son of Uri, of the tribe of Judah, was filled 'with the spirit of God' in wisdom and craft (Exodus 31:2-3); his name is read as 'in the shadow of God'.

The Ark of the Covenant was made from which wood, overlaid with gold?

Exodus 25:10-11 orders the Ark made of acacia (shittim) wood overlaid with pure gold, two and a half cubits long by a cubit and a half wide and high, with two cherubim on its lid.

Which national church claims to hold the actual Ark of the Covenant at Axum?

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church holds that the Ark rests in a chapel beside the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum, where a single guardian monk alone may see it.

What did Moses strike with his staff at Rephidim to bring water for the people?

At Rephidim the people had no water, and God told Moses to strike a rock with his staff so water flowed from it (Exodus 17:6); the place was named Massah and Meribah.

Where does the Bible say Moses died, having seen but never entered the Promised Land?

The Torah's final chapter has Moses climb Mount Nebo, view the land from Pisgah's summit and die there at 120; it adds that no one knows his burial place.

Jewish and Christian tradition credits which figure with writing the Book of Exodus?

Tradition ascribes the whole Torah, Exodus included, to Moses — the 'Five Books of Moses'; modern scholarship instead treats it as a composite work assembled over centuries.

Who played Moses in Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 epic The Ten Commandments?

Charlton Heston played Moses opposite Yul Brynner's Rameses; Heston's newborn son Fraser appeared on screen as the infant Moses.

The 1956 Ten Commandments won its only Academy Award in which category?

Its single win was for special effects (the award now called Best Visual Effects), credited to John P. Fulton for the parting of the Red Sea, filmed with dumped water tanks run in reverse.

Which song from The Prince of Egypt won the Academy Award for Best Original Song?

'When You Believe', written by Stephen Schwartz, won Best Original Song at the 1999 ceremony; Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey sang the pop single version.

Ridley Scott's 2014 film Exodus: Gods and Kings starred which actor as Moses?

Christian Bale played Moses opposite Joel Edgerton's Ramesses; the film was banned in Egypt over its historical inaccuracies and was dedicated to Scott's brother Tony, who died in 2012.

Otto Preminger's 1960 film Exodus, about the founding of Israel, was adapted from a novel by whom?

Preminger openly credited blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, which along with Spartacus helped end the Hollywood blacklist.

Which artist's 1977 album Exodus was named the best album of the 20th century by Time magazine?

Bob Marley and the Wailers recorded Exodus in London after a gunman tried to kill Marley in Jamaica in December 1976; Time named it the album of the century in 1999.

What is the name of the Levite woman who set the infant Moses adrift on the Nile in an ark of bulrushes?

Exodus 2 calls her only 'a Levite woman', but Exodus 6:20 names Moses' mother as Jochebed; she hid him three months before setting him afloat to escape Pharaoh's decree against Hebrew boys.

What does Moses' wife do when God seeks to kill him on the way to Egypt?

Exodus 4:24-26: she takes a flint, circumcises their son and touches Moses' feet with the foreskin, calling him 'a bridegroom of blood'; the cryptic episode has puzzled commentators for centuries.

Which month does God command Moses to fix at the head of the Hebrew calendar?

Exodus 13:4 and 23:15 name it the month of Aviv, 'ripening ears'; it was later known by the Babylonian name Nisan, and the lamb was taken on its 10th day and sacrificed on the 14th.

What must Moses do after coming down Sinai the second time, transformed by God's presence?

Because his face shone after speaking with God, Moses had to wear a veil in public (Exodus 34:33-35), removing it only when he went in before the Lord.

The story of baby Moses saved from the Nile is thought to echo an earlier legend about which ruler?

The Legend of Sargon of Akkad has the king's mother set him adrift in a reed basket sealed with bitumen; scholars also compare the Covenant Code to the Laws of Hammurabi.

The Israelites' reply 'na'aseh v'nishmah' in Exodus 24:7 is usually translated how?

Na'aseh v'nishma is rendered 'We will do and we will hear' (or 'obey'); Jewish commentators read it as a pledge to obey God's commands before fully understanding them.

Which weekly Torah portion covers Exodus 13-17, including the parting of the sea?

Beshalach ('when he let go', Exodus 13:17-17:16) spans the sea crossing, the Song of the Sea, the bread from heaven and the battle with Amalek; Yitro follows with the Ten Commandments.

Which archaeologists argued digs found 'not even the slightest evidence' of Israelites wandering in Sinai?

Finkelstein and Silberman made the claim in The Bible Unearthed (2001), arguing the Israelites emerged from within Canaanite society rather than arriving from Egypt.

Which biblical scholar, in her Exodus commentary, calls it arguably the most important book in the Bible?

Carol Meyers opens her 2005 Cambridge commentary on Exodus by calling it arguably the Bible's most important book, since it presents Israel's defining features: hardship and escape, a binding covenant, and guidelines for community life.